Congressional Leaders Rename Hearing Room to Honor Sam Johnson

Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) hosted a reception in honor of Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson’s (R-TX) tremendous service to America. Attendees celebrated Chairman Johnson’s decades of service in Congress and in the U.S. Air Force, including almost seven years as a POW during the Vietnam War. At the reception, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) officially dedicated B-318 in the Rayburn Building, a Ways and Means hearing room, as the “Sam Johnson Room.”

“Seeing my name on this plaque serves as a reminder to me that service above self is most important, and with the best-interest of the United States in mind all the time.”
Upon receiving this honor, Chairman Johnson remarked:

Chairman Brady said:

“Many of us here today are familiar with Sam’s story of military service. But for those who are not, it is a story of remarkable perseverance and incredible determination.

“Sam served in the Air Force for 29 years, flying 62 combat missions during the Korean War and 25 in the Vietnam War. And, on that 25th mission, he was shot down and captured by the Vietnamese.

“For the following seven years, he was held as a POW. And, for three and a half of those years, he was held in solitary confinement. His captors came to know him as a die-hard resistor, and they treated him as such.

“It’s impossible to imagine conditions like this and how they would push a person’s will and their very humanity to the breaking point. But, what is remarkable about Sam’s story is that he emerged with an even stronger desire to help and serve his fellow man.”